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Tue, 31 Mar 2015 17:57:01 +0000en-UShourly1Next front in religious liberty fight: Military chaplains and “ceremonies”?http://www.catholicvote.org/next-front-in-religious-liberty-fight-military-chaplains-and-ceremonies/
http://www.catholicvote.org/next-front-in-religious-liberty-fight-military-chaplains-and-ceremonies/#commentsFri, 04 Jan 2013 03:48:36 +0000Tom Crowehttp://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=40053The military chaplaincy, from the Catholic perspective, is one of the strangest amalgamations of duties, responsibilities, authorities, and chains of command. You have your bishop and your commanding officer. You have your “parishoners,” frequently consisting of many people not of the same faith, but for whom you have a more comprehensive pastoral responsibility—performing or arranging for religious ceremonies as possible, counseling, and helping in any way possible that respects their conscience as well as your own—than a conventional parish priest. You have a rank and operate within the military hierarchy, but are not necessarily tied to any unit; you have a freedom of movement that few others enjoy; and you really don’t command any troops except your assistant and any chaplains who are under you if you move up the chaplaincy ranks, but you can be one of the most influential people around through sound counsel. And you still owe obedience to your bishop or religious community superior, and of course to your faith.

Most Reverend Timothy Broglio, archbishop of the Military Services, USA, with a group of military chaplain candidates in statuary hall in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception after his installation in 2008. Yours truly on the far right.

I was a Navy chaplain candidate for three years while I was in seminary and had a fair number of opportunities to meet and work with chaplains and their flock on military installations while I held my commission. Truly a special service and an incredible way to serve God by serving those who serve us all—helping them to retain their Center, sometimes in the midst of the worst conditions and situations humanity can contrive.

Thanks to former Congressman Todd Akin, the National Defense Authorization Act passed on December 21 and signed on January 2 by President Obama protects military chaplains from having to perform any ceremonies or rites that violate their conscience.

Like same-sex “marriages.”

Akin introduced language that reads:

The Armed Forces shall accommodate the beliefs of a member of the armed forces reflecting the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the member and, in so far as practicable, may not use such beliefs as the basis of any adverse personnel action, discrimination, or denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment.

The military already appropriately protects the freedom of conscience of chaplains and service members…The secretary of defense will ensure that the implementing regulations do not permit or condone discriminatory actions that compromise good order and discipline or otherwise violate military codes of conduct.

That part, “do not permit or condone discriminatory actions” in the directive to the secretary of defense is the sticky part. We already know that President Obama considers an imagined “right” to contraceptives and abortifacients greater than an individual’s right of conscience. He also ended the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and has endorsed same-sex “marriage.” In a statement to supporters he assured all, “My administration remains fully committed to continuing the successful implementation of the repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell, and to protecting the rights of gay and lesbian service members,” and that this provision “will not alter that.” His notion of what is offensively “discriminatory” clearly differs from that of a faithful Catholic chaplain, and certainly from the intent of those who wrote this law.

At present military chaplains are permitted to perform same sex “marriages” on military bases. This likely means that Catholic chaplains, while not required to perform the ceremony, is required to help make accommodation for a same-sex couple to have their ceremony.

I do not know what sort of “implementing regulations” the secretary of defense can promulgate that will at one and the same time follow the plain letter of this law and not “permit or condone discriminatory actions” according to the President’s understanding of “discriminatory.” I can see litigation coming of this as soon as a confused Catholic service member demands that the Catholic chaplain perform the same-sex ceremony, perhaps because there is no other chaplain around who would willingly accommodate.

Fortunately, there already is some case law in favor of the good guys. In 1996 a Catholic Air Force Reserve chaplain, Father Vincent Rigdon, sued the Clinton administration. They had forbidden him and all Catholic chaplains from following the directives of the U.S. bishops to ask all Catholics to write Congress in support of the partial-birth abortion ban they had passed, asking them to override President Clinton’s veto. Father Rigdon, joined in the lawsuit by a Jewish chaplain, the Muslim American Military Association, and a Catholic Navy chaplain, won.

Sporkin wrote, “What we have here is the government’s attempt to override the Constitution and the laws of the land by a directive that clearly interferes with military chaplains’ free-exercise and free-speech rights, as well as those of their congregants.”

Hopefully, should the Obama administration’s directives lean more toward preventing “discriminatory actions” than respecting freedom of conscience, the courts will see clearly once again.

]]>http://www.catholicvote.org/next-front-in-religious-liberty-fight-military-chaplains-and-ceremonies/feed/55Booing the Gay Soldierhttp://www.catholicvote.org/booing-the-gay-soldier/
http://www.catholicvote.org/booing-the-gay-soldier/#commentsFri, 23 Sep 2011 16:47:08 +0000Tom Hoopeshttp://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=21122
A lot has been made about how shameful and embarrassing it is that a gay soldier stationed in Iraq was booed during the GOP presidential candidates’ debate last night in Orlando, Florida.

That’s fair. It would be shameful and embarrassing for an American audience to boo a soldier who was putting his life at risk for others — an act which is the highest form of love, according to Jesus Christ.

But is that really what happened?

That is certainly the story many in the media want to tell about it. Here is the version I heard driving through Kansas City traffic this morning:

“So here’s this guy, right, this soldier, and he calls up from Iraq and says he’s gay, and asks what the candidates’ position is on guys like him. And the audience totally boos him! This soldier is over in Iraq for them, and they boo him! Unbelievable!”

But, alas, that’s not what happened. Watch the video.

1. For one thing, the audience didn’t boo. A couple of people booed, from what it sounds like. Those people should not have booed. But the fact that they did is hardly a national scandal.

2. For another thing, the soldier didn’t ask the candidates’ positions on gays in the military. He said: “Under one of your presidencies do you intend to circumvent the progress that has been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?”

That is an extremely contentious, loaded way to put the question. It assumes that the repeal of the current law, which military manuals call “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass” is progress, and that those who believe otherwise aren’t interested in continuing the Democratic process but “circumventing” it.

So, while it would not be okay to boo Stephen Hill for being gay, as the Catechism makes crystal clear, it is not clear that his sexual orientation was the reason for even the few boos he received.

Hill’s question was meant to create heat, not light. The fact that his words did what he intended is probably no great surprise to him — and it shouldn’t be to us, either.

In other words, in the eyes of many, Archbishop Broglio is an embarrassing, bigoted, stupid prelate who is fomenting dissent in the ranks.

Reading the Archbishop, however, that’s not what I see. Rather, I see a man who cares deeply about the Catholic chaplains and Catholic soldiers entrusted to his care. I see someone who refuses to turn his back on the teachings of Christ and his Church, however unpopular those teachings may be.

The Archdiocese for Military Services is already under duress. While Catholics represent a disproportionate percentage of those who serve in the military, the number of Catholic chaplains is disproportionately small. This November Abp. Broglio had to plea with the US Bishops to release more priests for service as military chaplains.

I believe that if DADT is repealed, it will become even more difficult for Catholic priests to serve our armed forces. During the course of the congressional and national debate over repealing DADT, these concerns have been completely dismissed by the other side. Frankly, the attitude I have encountered is one of, “So if we repeal DADT the priests will want to leave? Fine, good riddance.”

The Democrats have been attempting to repeal DADT for a long time, and this week, with literally days to go before the end of the year, they may succeed. The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the question of whether to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell as early as today. It is expected to pass by a slim margin. That’s some present to our Catholic chaplains serving in the military, especially the ones overseas: a potent reminder from the ruling class in Washington DC that their beliefs and concerns don’t matter.